The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1887-05-12

glOOmily, ''for what nave Deen tooAAh5
forward to impatiently for months''
'tHave you?" she asked, giving me a
look to take ones breath away. But IT
appears to me that a series of letters and
kilograms were needed. to get you here at
allah. there's Turtle islandl
Do you know, in all the time I've been
here, 1 never landed on Turtle island
once?''
/ fancied she looked as if she expected
something, so / said at a venture:
Nothing simpler. I'll paddle you
there after the review"
Was l abnormalIy suspicious, or did she
mean anything by that remark? 1t was
one thing to know generally that she had
been sitting on the rocks with other men,
going to picnics, padding about the bay
dancing, taking walks and most 1ndublt-
ably flirting for q good two months; but
it was quite another to see the men them
selves and find the delicate game Of intel
lectual immortality in full blast under my
very nose.
NY vanity came to the rescue just then
and suggested that she was giving me oc-
casion to see her alone; for on the rugged
desolate island there was less chance OF
interruptions than in or about Bar Har-
Dor, So thinking cheered up yis1bly
and Idita watched me with swift glances
out of those creole eyes of hers and
smiled softly to herself, humming now
and then a tantalizing air that stopped
short, like the song of the hooking bird,
Just when it seemed about to launch
deeper into melody Altogether Idita
presented an impish and tricky mood
that day such as / never knew her to
show before or since.
At the meet there was the usual confu-
sion, calling, laughter. humping OF ca
noes, small shrieks from over excited girls,
coming and going of the official boats. L
was promptly boarded by Mrs. Gaunt,
who held me with a gimlet eye while she
talked about Idita. In a few minutes L
heard more names of men who had been,
were or were about to be in state OF
violent love with that young lady than my
brain could possibly retain. Only one i'm
pressed himself by reason of picturesque
ness. The youth, whose name missed,
had fallen headlong slave to the cruel
Mobilian, and had. then and there retired
to some fastness to brood on his hopeless
passion and, so it appeared, his wrongs.
For Idita had certainly snubbed him out
if half what Mrs. Gaunt said
was true. Another the moral of it all
-abided by me also. Is it necessary to
state it? 1, too, would promptly undergo
like treatment at those little hands; 1, too,
WOEllQ De 6QCOuEdSSU, OuJOycu, u udIICIcO
with, snubbed and BRUSHED aside.
''But, my dear lady, said ], Gin any
event no mountain top or fastness in the
wilds for me! No; if Idita-I mean Miss
be so harsh to an old, old
friend, would not go away where could
not see her, but stay right here-yes, and
give her 2 good sniIb myself now and
thenr'
81 like to hear you talk like that, ;" she
compassionately, because it in
sures to us poor wall flowers who have
Outgrown our youth and beauty another
episode in the unparalleled career
of the belle of Bar Harbor.''
The she devil had OWNED that I hated
that expression. 1 ground my teeth so
that she was frightened She began to
talk to somebody else, and fearing that 1
would tell Idita what she had said, set in
story the point of which was
that could not be trusted for moment
so shocking liar was II
Longing to be off, found Idita in
earnest talk with Tommy Moore, who
verify looked more like crazy man than
anything else; he was furious at my good
luck and seemed to be saying violent
things as came up. 1t was fine to see
Idita quiet and quen him, but my arrival
was not oppOrtune, to say the least; he
flung himself away and walked to a grassy
hillock overlooking the scene, where, /
heard afteFward, he rolled on the turf like
a mailman and uttered curses never heard
before from those gentle lips.
But the signal was given and we en-
barked. wonder how many of the men
had ever been in a birch before. hadn't.
But knew theoretically how to work the
paddle, and was determined to die rather
than let Idita see that was what is vul-
carly called a duffer. Fortunately that
young lady was and is a round weight;
she is not loneliness in its most ethereal
aspect, so my canoe was well down in the
water and easier to handle. Fortunately,
also, the need of keeping the line made
progression slow, SO that l had nearly
half an hour in which to take my first
esson. Once or twice 1 scattered the
wrong kind of diamonds over that divine
head, but Idita seemed too happy to care.
Was she happy because at last had Gomez
Her eyes were fixed on Turtle island, and
ny own heart beat fast. Is she thinking
If our agreement? kept wondering.
We moved gayly and magnifcently up
he bay and down, then turned for the |
grand review with the addition to our
anks of several score of late Corners.
Among them was Tommy Moore, as |
ound to my dismay, for he damned his |
anoe alongside mine and took q baleful |
pleasure in bothering me in every way he |
ould. When he came in Idita's line of |
-ision that charmer merely nodded to him |
lightly, as if nothing had happened out Of |
he way-perhaps it was an everyday |
natter to her that poor little society |
ably should roll on the ground and curse |
orridly or her account / could not get |
id of him till bethought me of retalia-
ion, and having by skillful hoist under
he stern of his canoe given Tommy very
ear to a ducking, that malign youth /
ept more respectful distance, and only
ried to 'fascinate" Idita with his eyes
nd express with his nose what he
bought of me and my vile padding.
The joke was dull as we approached
'urtle island again, so 1 slackened up and
dyed away to the. furthest boat on the
ing, deaf TO the call Of the commodore,
nd as the line moved abreast of the island
did my prettiest to get round the point
} the other side, there to land-there to
ave Idita all to myself Luckily, Tommy
as wedged into the line so that he could
OF see the skulkers, and fiattered myself,
5 we forged over into the smooth water
eh1nd the point, that he had not detected
1r escape. How to get Idita out of the
ippery canoe was the next thing that
early turned my hair gray; but it was
1ne well Though it's who say it, at the
Ipense of one Of my feet soaked with salt